my sister recently got about 20 zebrafish embryos from her developmental biology lab.

we have them in a test tubde right now...

anyone know how we take care of them?

and they are soooo tiny that it's hard really to observe any 'stress" that they are experiencing... and 2 just died...

what can i do?

anyone know anything abotu raising zebrafish?

Ive Never Heard Of Zebrafish,Do You Mean Zebra Danios?

Zebrafish, zebra danios, same thing. They are actually native to the same area as goldfish, so they are a coolwater fish. They are often sold as feeders when they are tiny, and are overcrowded and underfed so you can probably expect to lose more just from poor handling. Thats the sad truth with feeder fish.

They require a filter just like goldfish. They should probably be in at least a 5 to 10 gallon tank. You can set it up like a fry tank and just use a small sponge filter. You can feed them just tropical flake food (crushed up for now), a small pinch once a day. Remember since they are feeders they probably havent been fed in awhile. As they grow you will want to vary their diet more, with frozen foods also.

They are really amazing fish and I like them a lot. They get to about 3 inches long and require a long, large tank for swimming room. Like common goldfish they like to swim far and fast. You can get by with them being in a small tank for awhile but do keep in mind that they get bigger.

Hope this helps and good luck with them.

You can keep zebras with goldfish as long as the zebras are a good size and the gf not too big. They need to be in a group of 2 or more.

They do BEST in bigger groups.. I found that 4 wasn't enough for mine to stop fighting, fins were getting damaged, so I ended up with 8 of them, and they're much more peaceful. Just playful chasing. I'm sure you'll have enough left to have a big happy group.

They really are great fish! Mine will eat out of my hand. They're definitely not shy. Don't be disappointed if a lot of them don't survive. I got my first goldfish from a biology lab, so I know how crazy lab fish can be at first! My guy was insane... I remember putting him in a small bucket while I got his tank set up, and every time he heard/felt footsteps, he would start crashing into the sides of the bucket. I'm sure your fish are similarly stressed.

Also, as for the name, they're almost always called "zebra danios" in the fishkeeping hobby, but any bio textbook will call them "zebrafish."

I Wondered,Cause I Went To A "Zebra Fish" Website And They Showed A Pic,And They Looked Like Zebra Danios.But I Get It Now

o gosh..
i had no idea.

they require that much room?

right now, they are only about 3 mm.
and there are abt 9 of them in a test tube! haha.

guess i should move them into a tub?

i can't put them w/ my goldie.... she'd eat them!

one more thing... wat type of water do they live in?

esp when they are only babies.

website say somethign about Hank's soln??? and i have NO clue what that is. can they just live from tap?

I believe they prefer water with a *slight* salt content - I think they are brackish, and I would use 1tsp aquarium salt per 5g of water.

They definitely don't need salt. It might help reduce stress, but I'm not sure if babies are more sensitive to salt than adults. As adults, they can handle as much salt as goldfish. They're freshwater fish, so any dechlorinated water with a stable pH and temperature is fine! It's really not much different than keeping goldfish, except for the fact that these are babies.

Sorry - I stand corrected (thanks May) - yes, they are a freshwater fish.

In answer to your other question, Hank's solution (aka Save-A-Tooth solution) is a salt solution designed for the transport of biological specimens. In the case of "Save-a-tooth" it keeps the root of a tooth alive long enough for a dentist to implant it back into the mouth it came from!

er......save a tooth??/ wat??


well... as of right now, they are in tap water that's been left out for 24 hrs. is that ok?


also, wat type of food can i feed them?
i tried my flake goldfish food...but they dont' seem to be eating?

If they don't eat the flake food, you could try liquid food made especially for fry. You can find it at pretty much any lfs. Many baby fish also like live brine shrimp, if you feel like hatching some of those. I've heard that a lot of people feed cooked and crushed egg yolk to babies, but they say it's pretty messy, so I never tried it.

LOL! That's exactly what I thought when I was looking up suppliers of Hank's solution - but it's true, it's been adapted to keep the root of a tooth alive if it's knocked out whole - it allows time to get to a dentist and they can re-implant it apparently!

Here's a link to the webpage!

Save-a-tooth Webpage